82 



On the Nunnery of North Berwick. By John Stuart, 

 LL.D., Secretary to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 



Little or nothing now remains to witness the existence of 

 this religious house, which in its day was one of consider- 

 able importance. The manor of North Berwick belonged to 

 the Earls of Fife ; and the founder of the Nunnery is believed 

 to have been Duncan, Earl of Fife, who nourished in the 

 time of David I., and died 1154. A charter still remains of 

 his son, Earl Duncan, dated about 1177, whereby he con- 

 firmed to the nuns of North Berwick the land called 

 Gillecamston, on which the Nunnery was built, with other 

 lands. He also granted to them the hospitals, one at the 

 south side of the ferry, and the other at the north side, 

 which his father had founded for the reception of the poor 

 and of pilgrims. The hospital thus granted on the south 

 shore was at North Berwick, and that on the opposite coast 

 was at Ardross. By the same charter he granted to the 

 nuns the tithes of his house and larder : the latter including 

 the tenth cow, the tenth ram, the tenth pig, the tenth hen, 

 the tenth goose, the tenth lamb, and the tenth of the whole 

 cost of the kitchen as well in flesh as fish, and the tenth 

 skin of all his sheep which died, and the tenth of his wool 

 and his lambs. The house was also endowed with other 

 lands and churches in various parts of the country ; 

 its revenues at the Reformation being stated at £556 

 17s. 8d. of money (Scots) ; 9 chalders 12 bolls wheat ; 19 

 chalders 4 bolls of bear ; 14 chalders 4 bolls oats ; 3 chalders 

 9 bolls pease and beans; 1 boll 3 firlots 3 pecks malt, 18 

 oxen, 13 cows ; one last 9 barrels salmon. 



The position of the Nunnery exposed it to many of the 

 evils which resulted from the wars between England and 

 Scotland. In 1296, the prioress of North Berwick and the 

 guardian of the Monastery took the oath of allegiance to 

 Edward I. In 1482 we find that the prioress had appealed 

 to Parliament for protection against John Dischington and 

 other inhabitants of Fife, against attacks on her property. 

 In March, 1549, the prioress was repledged from the King's 

 Court by the official of the Archbishop of St. Andrews, to 

 answer the law for the waylaying and invasion of Alexander 

 Oliphant of Kelly, for his slaughter, and for other crimes of 

 oppression committed against him and Alexander Gourlay 

 of Kincraig. Alexander Hume, of North Berwick, became 



